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To make it easier to identify and react to new scam Web sites, Microsoft, EBay, and Visa International are launching a program to share information about online identity theft scams known as "phishing attacks," they said Monday.

The companies will use the RSA Conference in San Francisco this week to unveil the Phish Report Network, an anti-phishing service that aggregates reports of phishing attacks and issues alerts about new phishing Web sites to subscribers. The service is being sponsored by end-point security company WholeSecurity, according to a statement from WholeSecurity.

Phishing scams are online crimes that use spam to direct Internet users to Web sites designed to look like legitimate e-commerce sites, but which are controlled by thieves. Users are asked to provide sensitive information such as passwords, bank account information, or credit card numbers, often under the guise of updating an account.

On the RiseReports of online identity theft scams have grown steadily for more than a year. In December, more than 1700 active phishing Web sites were reported, a 10 percent jump from the previous month, according to data released by the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG).

More than 9000 unique e-mail messages linked to phishing scams were identified by the APWG in December, an increase of 6 percent from the month before, and a 38 percent increase over the number reported in July, according to an APWG report.

The scams are notoriously hard to shut down because those behind them often use compromised computers scattered around the globe to host phishing Web sites and to distribute the spam messages advertising the sites. The average duration of a phishing Web site was almost six days in December, with some sites operating for as long as 30 days before being shut down, the APWG reported.

The Phish Report Network is a voluntary, subscription-based service that will help coordinate response to phishing scams between the companies targeted by phishers, such as EBay, and organizations that can play a role in shutting down the scams, such as ISPs and antispam technology companies, according to information on the group's Web site at PhishReport.net.

Visa, EBay, and Paypal, EBay's online payment division, will report new phishing scams to the Phish Report Network. Those reports will be stored in a central database of phishing attacks maintained by WholeSecurity, where the information will be sorted into aggregated "safe lists" and "block lists" of known phishing sites. ISPs and other companies will then use those lists to update filters, black lists, and other systems used to block traffic to and from the phishing sites, WholeSecurity says.

Latest EffortThe network is just the latest industry effort to thwart the identity theft scams, which some fear are undermining public confidence in online commerce.

In June 2004, a consortium of companies from across different industries called the Trusted Electronic Communications Forum (TECF) said it was going to tackle the problem of online identity fraud.

That group has representatives from leading retail, telecommunications, financial services and technology companies, including Charles Schwab, Fidelity Investments, IBM, and Siebel Systems. The TECF was formed to take on long-term and short-term approaches to combat the phishing problem, including new technology and technology standards, best practices, and legal action against suspected identity thieves, according to a statement.

The Phish Report Network is available immediately. Companies can sign up by visiting the group's Web site.